Eyewitness accounts of the meteorite phenomenon, handpicked by RT.Army units found three meteorite debris impact sites, two of which are in an area near Chebarkul Lake, west of Chelyabinsk. The third site was found some 80 kilometers further to the northwest, near the town of Zlatoust. One of the fragments that struck near Chebarkul left a crater six meters in diameter.

Servicemembers from the tank brigade that found the crater have confirmed that background radiation levels at the site are normal.Russian space agency Roskosmos has confirmed the object that crashed in the

Chelyabinsk region is a meteorite:“According to preliminary estimates, this space object is of non-technogenic origin and qualifies as a meteorite. It was moving at a low trajectory with a speed of about 30 km/s.

”According to estimates by the Russian Academy of Sciences, the space object weighed about 10 tons before entering Earth’s atmosphere.

As of 15:00 Moscow time, 725 people have sought medical attention in Chelyabinsk alone because of the disaster, 112 of whom have been hospitalized, of them two in heavy condition. Among the injured there are 159 children, Emergency ministry reported.

A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from space objects such as asteroids or comets, ranging in size from tiny to gigantic.

When a meteorite falls on Earth, passing through the atmosphere causes it to heat up and emit a trail of light, forming a fireball known as a meteor, or shooting or falling star.

A bright flash was seen in the Chelyabinsk, Tyumen and Sverdlovsk regions, Russia’s Republic of Bashkiria and in northern Kazakhstan.The Russian army has joined the rescue operation. Army units are searching for meteorite debris in several places in Chelyabinsk region and in the neighboring Tyumen region.

Radiation, chemical and biological protection units have been put on high alert. Since the explosion occurred several kilometers above the Earth, a large ground area must be thoroughly checked for radiation and other threats.

At least one piece of the fallen object caused damage on the ground in Chelyabinsk. According to preliminary reports, it crashed into a wall near a zinc factory, disrupting the city's Internet and mobile service.

The Emergency Ministry reported that 20,000 rescue workers are operating in the region. Three aircraft were deployed to survey the area and locate other possible impact locations.

The Ministry reported that 297 buildings were damaged, and another 450 buildings were left without gas because facilities in the city had also been damaged, an Emergency Ministry spokesperson said, according to Russia 24 news channel.

The trail of a falling object is seen above a residential apartment block in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk, on February 15, 2013.(AFP Photo / Oleg Kargopolov)

Witnesses said the explosion was so loud that it seemed like an earthquake and thunder had struck at the same time, and that there were huge trails of smoke across the sky. Others reported seeing burning objects fall to earth
.The Urals regional center of the Emergency Ministry claimed it sent out a mass SMS warning residents about a possible meteorite shower. However, eyewitnesses said they either never received it, or got the message after the explosion had already occurred.

Classes for all Chelyabinsk schools have been canceled, mostly due to broken windows. Institute students have been dismissed until next Monday. Authorities also ordered all kindergartens with broken windows to return children to their families.

According to unconfirmed reports, the meteorite was intercepted by an air defense unit at the Urzhumka settlement near Chelyabinsk. A missile salvo blew the meteorite to pieces at an altitude of 20 kilometers, local newspaper Znak reports quoting a source in the military.

Regnum news agency quoted a military source who claimed that the vapor condensation trail of the meteorite speaks to the fact that the meteorite was intercepted by air defenses.

Police in the Chelyabinsk region are reportedly on high alert, and have begun ‘Operation Fortress’ in order to protect vital infrastructure.

Office buildings in downtown Chelyabinsk are being evacuated. Injuries were reported at one of the city’s secondary schools, supposedly from smashed windows.

An emergency message published on the website of the Chelyabinsk regional authority urged residents to pick up their children from school and remain at home if possible.

Those in Chelyabinsk who had their windows smashed are scrambling to cover the openings with anything available – the temperature in the city is currently -6°C.Chelyabinsk regional governor Mikhail Yurevich is urgently returning to the region. Yurevich said that preserving the city’s central heating system is authorities’ primary goal.

“Do not panic, this is an ordinary situation we can manage in a couple of days,” the governor said in and address to city residents.

The regional Emergency Ministry said the phenomenon was a meteorite shower, but locals have speculated that it was a military fighter jet crash or a missile explosion.

“According to preliminary data, the flashes seen over the Urals were caused by [a] meteorite shower," the Emergency Ministry told Itar-Tass news agency.The ministry also said that no local power stations or civil aircraft were damaged by the meteorite shower, and that“all flights proceed according to schedule.”

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who also oversees the Russian defense industry, wrote on Twitter that he would speak with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev about the incident in the Urals.

“On Monday I will bring to Medvedev a straight picture of what has happened in the Urals and prospective proposals of how the country can find out about the dangers approaching Earth and deal with them,” Rogozin wrote.

Residents of the town of Emanzhilinsk, some 50 kilometers from Chelyabinsk, said they saw a flying object that suddenly burst into flames, broke apart and fell to earth, and that a black cloud had been seen hanging above the town. Witnesses in Chelyabinsk said the city’s air smells like gunpowder.

Residents across the Urals region were informed about the incident through a cellphone text message from the regional Emergency Ministry.Many locals reported that the explosion rattled their houses and smashed windows.

“My windows were not smashed, but I first thought that my house is being dismantled, then I thought it was a UFO, and my eventual thought was an earthquake,” Bukreeva Olga wrote on Twitter.

The Mayak nuclear complex near the town of Ozersk was not affected by the incident, according to reports. Mayak, one of the world’s biggest nuclear facilities that used to house plutonium production reactors and a reprocessing plant, is located 72 kilometers northwest of Chelyabinsk.

It is believed that the incident may be connected to asteroid 2012 DA14, which measures 45 to 95 meters in diameter and will be passing by Earth tonight at around 19:25 GMT at the record close range of 27,000 kilometers

Photo from Twitter.com user @varlamov
Another Tunguska event?

The incident in Chelyabinsk bears a strong resemblance to the 1908 Tunguska event – an exceptionally powerful explosion in Siberia believed to have been caused by a fragment of a comet or meteor.

According to estimates, the energy of the Tunguska blast may have been as high as 50 megatons of TNT, equal to a nuclear explosion. Some 80 million trees were leveled over a 2,000-square-kilometer area. The Tunguska blast remains one of

the most mysterious events in history, prompting a wide array of hypotheses on its cause, including a black hole passing through Earth and the wreck of an alien spacecraft.

It is believed that if the Tunguska event had happened 4 hours later, due to the rotation of the Earth it would have completely destroyed the city of Vyborg and significantly damaged St. Petersburg.

When a similar, though less powerful, unexplained explosion happened in Brazil in 1930, it was named the ‘Brazilian Tunguska.’ The Tunguska event also prompted debate and research into preventing or mitigating asteroid impacts.

Over 750 people injured in this madness and still more reports of injuries coming in

Below in the Spoiler is updates on this

The Russian Urals region has been stricken by a sudden cosmic attack. Unidentified flying objects exploded over several major cities, including Chelyabinsk, where the blast waves blew out windows and disrupted

mobile connections.The Emergency Ministry said the incident was caused by a shower of meteorite debris. Unconfirmed reports suggested that a meteorite was shot down by Russian air defenses. Multiple dashboard videos appeared online,

12:24 GMT: The military had nothing to do with the aerial meteorite explosion, the Urals Emergency Ministry said: "Russia's defense ministry took no action connected to the incident. No aircrafts has been registered in the air at the given period of time." Earlier, there were unconfirmed reports that the military had shot down the falling meteorite, shattering it into pieces.

12:21 GMT: Vladimir Puchkov, the head of the Russian Emergency Ministry, is flying to Chelyabinsk to hold an emergency meeting with regional governor Mikhail Yurevich concerning the meteor shower incident, which injured over 725 people.

12:05 GMT: Six cities and four small towns saw damage from the air blast produced by the meteorite, mostly shattered windows, Itar-Tass reported, citing police officials
.12:01 GMT: The site where the meteorite is believed to have fallen has been closed off by military units wearing special protective suits
.12:00 GMT: Three municipalities of the Chelyabinsk region have declared a state of emergency. "8 out of 43 municipalities have considerably suffered from the fall of space debris, 3 are in state of emergency," Emergency Ministry spokesperson Igor Murog said.

11:42 GMT: A phone hotline has been launched for Chelyabinsk residents seeking psychological care
.11:40 GMT: Two people injured in the meteorite incident are in intensive care, RIA Novosti reported, citing Chelyabinsk officials
.11:36 GMT: Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s Emergency Ministry to evaluate the damage caused by the meteorite incident, and to provide victims with all necessary aid. He said that the “astronomic aspect of the incident” is of particular interest, because analysis of the Chelyabinsk meteorite fall could help prevent future such incidents and alert residents in advance
.11:33 GMT: At least 297 apartment buildings were damaged from the meteorite fall in the Chelyabinsk region, an Emergency Ministry spokesperson told Russia 24 TV

11:19 GMT: The Russian military has explored a meteorite crater that is reportedly 6 meters in diameter; normal radiation levels were detected at the site.

11:12 GMT: Nearly 725 people have requested medical assistance in regions hit by the meteor shower
.11:10 GMT: The meteorite blast in the Chelyabinsk region may be connected to the 2012DA14 asteroid, which will pass close to Earth tonight, Tatyana Borisevich from Pulkovo Observatory told Itar-Tass.

11:00 GMT: Gas has been shut off in hundreds of Chelyabinsk homes after a security system shut it down due to the explosion.

10:55 GMT: The meteorite explosion sent animals in the Chelyabinsk zoo into a panic. Wolves and horses were reportedly the most agitated, but have now been calmed.

10:46 GMT: The meteorite has stirred up the Twitter community, becoming one of the most-discussed topics and prompting the creation of several parody accounts. More than 10 different Twitter accounts have been already registered for the meteorite that hit the Russian Urals. “So where can I go here on Friday night? Except for the factory?” one of the accounts said.

10:18 GMT: 84 children were among the hundreds injured by the Urals meteor shower.

10:04 GMT: The Russian Emergency Ministry did not confirm earlier reports that the meteorite fell close to a lake near the town of Chebarkul. "It's too early for any conclusions about any debris found," spokesperson Vladimir Stepanov told Russia 24 TV.

9:56 GMT: Demand has spiked in the Chelyabinsk region for plastic windows to be urgently installed, after a meteor shower shattered the windows of dozens of buildings.

9:36 GMT: There is a high chance that another meteorite could enter the Earth’s atmosphere in the next few hours, Sergey Smirnov from Pulkovo Observatory told Vesti news channel.

9:31 GMT: All universities, schools and kindergartens in Chelyabinsk have been closed for two days.

9:14 GMT: Sixteen people were hospitalized after meteorite debris hit the Russian Urals.

Update on the many injured

Around 950 people have sought medical attention in Chelyabinsk alone because of the disaster, the region's governor Mikhail Yurevich told RIA Novosti. Over 110 of them have been hospitalized and two of them are in heavy condition. Among the injured there are 159 children, Emergency ministry reported.

Last edited by claud3; 02-15-2013 at 14:42.

Plato and Aristotle, a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge

Pretty amazing how this could happen without warning. NORAD and NASA have a big spending program where they attempt to track each object on its way into our atmosphere. Now we know the system isn't bulletproof.

Pretty amazing how this could happen without warning. NORAD and NASA have a big spending program where they attempt to track each object on its way into our atmosphere. Now we know the system isn't bulletproof.

Very true... How the hell did they miss something so freaking big, bright and noisy

Plato and Aristotle, a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge

Very true... How the hell did they miss something so freaking big, bright and noisy

Just looked it up on Wikipedia. Apparently they track less objects than not.

Originally Posted by Wiki

The U.S. Strategic Command maintains a catalogue containing known orbital objects. The list was initially compiled in part to prevent misinterpretation as hostile missiles. The version compiled in 2009 listed about 19,000 objects. Observation data gathered by a number of ground-based radar facilities and telescopes as well as by a space-based telescope is used to maintain this catalogue. Nevertheless, the majority of expected debris objects remain unobserved – there are more than 600,000 objects larger than 1 cm (0.4 in) in orbit (according to the ESA Meteoroid and Space Debris Terrestrial Environment Reference, the MASTER-2005 model).

From what I heard this morning on the news this meteor didn't slip by it simply was not kept track of. They said that some objects they don't track because they aren't a big enough threat. And by threat they mean, take out a very large area and kill many people. But when it's big enough the cause this many injuries they ought to keep track. I guess they only care about the ones that could devastate the Earth.

Focus. Control. Conviction. Resolve. A true ace lacks none of these attributes. Nothing can deter you from the task at hand except your own fears. This is your sky.

From what I heard this morning on the news this meteor didn't slip by it simply was not kept track of. They said that some objects they don't track because they aren't a big enough threat. And by threat they mean, take out a very large area and kill many people. But when it's big enough the cause this many injuries they ought to keep track. I guess they only care about the ones that could devastate the Earth.

That is exactly right, they only have so much resources to track stuff, so would you rather a small or large meteor slip by? Still though, you would have though someone whether it be NASA or even amateur astronomers would have seen that thing coming within the past few days and given us a heads up!